COVID-19 vaccine myth-busters: Experts fact check claims
As wild claims circulate around the world about the effects of COVID-19 vaccines, we asked a team of experts to fact check each one.
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There are some wild claims going viral about the COVID-19 vaccines as they roll out in many countries.
So we have gathered a team of experts, including Allen Cheng, Professor of Infectious Diseases, Epidemiology School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University, Professor Terry Nolan, head of the Vaccine and Immunisation Research Group at the Peter Doherty Institute and Professor Paul Offit, US paediatrician and vaccinologist, to fact-check each of them.
Claim: The vaccine is linked to Bell’s palsy (one-sided facial paralysis)
Four people out of 44,000 in the Pfizer vaccine trial developed Bell’s palsy. The condition occurs in the general population each year at a rate between one and four cases per 10,000 people.
Fact: Dr Allen Cheng: “One of those rare side effects we need more data on, but there is an existing background rate of one to four cases per 10,000 per year. In any six-week period there is a risk of getting Bell’s palsy if you are vaccinated or not, meaning that we’d expect a small number to have Bell’s palsy within six-eight weeks after they got a COVID vaccine but they may have got it anyway. The question is whether the rate is higher than the existing background risk.”
Claim: The Pfizer vaccine causes infertility
Social media is awash with the rumour the mRNA vaccines block proteins necessary for the formation of the placenta. Such claims have been shared by anti-vaxxers including Pete Evans. The protein syncytin-1, which is critical for the placenta, is similar to the coronavirus spike protein targeted by the vaccines but, according to vaccine expert Professor Terry Nolan, it is not close enough for the vaccine-induced antibodies to recognise it.
Fact: “There is no evidence and no credible biologic mechanism that supports this claim. The coronavirus spike protein is very different to the placental syncytin protein,” Prof Nolan said.
Claim: The vaccine causes flu-like illness
A third of the participants in the Pfizer placebo group reported fatigue and headache.
Fact: “I think there’s good evidence that the vaccine does cause a sore arm (as pretty much all injections do!) and a fever in some people, and this was more than the saline placebo in the Pfizer trial and similar to the meningococcal control in the AstraZeneca trial. When the vaccine gets rolled out, we would routinely warn people that they will probably not feel well the following day and may get a fever, and actually this is a sign that the immune system is responding appropriately,” Prof Cheng said.
Claim: The vaccine causes transverse myelitis
There were three cases of transverse myelitis (spinal inflammation) in participants in the Oxford University/AstraZeneca trial. Transverse myelitis incidence is one to four cases per million people and is associated with both viral and bacterial infections including herpes simplex, chickenpox and syphilis. It is also associated with multiple sclerosis.
Fact: “There were two cases of transverse myelitis in the AstraZeneca vaccine arm and one in the control arm (who did not receive the COVID-19 vaccine). One of those who developed transverse myelitis who received the AstraZeneca vaccine had the pre-existing condition multiple sclerosis, which is one of the causes of transverse myelitis. One case of transverse myelitis was in the control arm not receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, which suggests that there is an existing background rate of transverse myelitis that can happen at any time,” Prof Cheng said.
Claim: The vaccine causes anaphylaxis
The manufacturers of all vaccines have urged caution for anyone who is already highly allergic to substances. There have been two anaphylactoid (not full-blown anaphylaxis) reactions in people who have existing severe allergies.
Fact: “Anaphylaxis has occurred after pretty much all drugs and vaccines. You can get it after having Panadol, so it happens. There have been a small number of cases of anaphylaxis of varying severity — all these cases have recovered. In the UK they say if you have a severe allergy and carry an Epi pen, you should thinking about whether you get the vaccine,” Prof Cheng said.
Claim: A man died on the AstraZeneca trial in Brazil
Dr Joao Feitosa, 28, volunteered for the trial of the Oxford University/AstraZeneca trial but died of COVID-19. Dr Feitosa was on the COVID-19 front line and was high risk but he received the placebo, not the actual AstraZeneca vaccine. He died of COVID-19.
Fact: “A death did occur in this study, but not in someone who received the COVID vaccine. One volunteer who had been randomised to receive the control vaccine (meningococcal ACWY vaccine) developed COVID disease during the study and died,” Professor Terry Nolan said.
Claim: Six people died on the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine trial
In any group of 44,000, people will die. Four of the six who did die received the placebo, which was ordinary saline, but of the two who received the vaccine the US drug regulator said: “None of these deaths were assessed by the investigator as related to study intervention. All deaths represent events that occur in the general population of the age groups where they occurred, at a similar rate.”
Fact: Professor Paul Offit told The Saturday Telegraph: “Four were in the placebo group. The COVID vaccine is designed to prevent COVID, not everything else that happens — the vaccine will not make you immortal. The other two deaths were of natural causes.”
Claim: Tennessee nurse Tiffany Dover, who fainted after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine in US, is dead
Social media users have been sharing posts that claim that the nurse who fainted on television after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine actually died. But she went on television the next day to explain why she fainted: “I have a history of an overactive vagal response so if I have any pain, I can just pass out.”
Her employer, Catholic Health Initiatives Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee has confirmed she is alive and well.
Fact: “Fainting does happen after vaccination, especially in teenagers, but it happens, it’s a needle and people get scared and some people faint. People faint in the hot sun, it’s not uncommon,” Prof Cheng said.
“She is not dead, she is being harassed by anti-vaxxers because that is who they are, they are like terrorists, they just harass people,” Prof Offit said.
Claim: Australia is stalling on rolling out the vaccine
The US, the UK and Israel have rolled out vaccines under emergency authorisation as opposed to standard regulatory release, which is after all the safety assessments have been done.
Fact: “Countries where there are hundreds or thousands of deaths a day have made a judgment that the benefits in preventing cases outweigh the uncertainties,” Prof Cheng said.
“Even with our current outbreaks, we aren’t in that position, so we’re able to wait just a little longer to let the TGA do its job. It’s notable that the countries are rolling out vaccine programs have generally used ‘emergency use authorisations’ rather than full approvals.”
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Originally published as COVID-19 vaccine myth-busters: Experts fact check claims
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